Tuesday, August 18, 2009

What about second breakfast?

This past weekend I visited my sister in Utah. It was a totally awesome trip! I found a direct flight, which I totally recommend. It is really great to get on a plane, and get off in your destination, without running through an airport and waiting a couple of hours in the middle. At first my sister said there was nothing to do in Provo, where she lives. She proved herself wrong. Here is all the amazing stuff we ate, and did, and we didn't even get to alot of her suggestions. I recommend a visit!

I arrived Friday around 9 AM, so we first hit a breakfast place. While we both agree it is not as good as the Bongo Room in Chicago, it was pretty good. I had an apple pancake, which was in a German pancake style. Very yummy. Then we headed up to Park City, and toured the Olympic Park. They had some fun games where you can try to be a ski jumper. My sister won :) Then we watched people do ski jumps into a pool. It was really cool to see people come flying down a slope, flip in the air, and land in the pool with skis on. It was a gorgeous day, beautiful blue skis, sunny, a breeze, not to hot. We walked down and watched people do the zip line down the mountain. Then we walked through the downtown part of Park City. It is a really cute street with little shops. Of course we got some gelato, and then we saw people riding the ski lift, and one of them lost their shoe! Then we drove through the mountains down to Provo. My sister gave me the official tour of Provo, driving by her work, her favorite house, the water park, BYU, the downtown street, and other things I have forgotten. We relaxed at her apartment, and then got a J-Dog! The special sauce is awesome (this is a hotdog stand near BYU). Then we went out to dinner with some friends at Zupas (a great sandwich/salad/soup place). I got a mango salad that was really excellent. Zupas always gives you a chocolate covered strawberry. I think this should be part of every meal. We followed dinner up with a movie. By the time that was over, I was exhausted! So I went to bed.

Saturday we ate at Kneaders. They have all you can eat french toast, with syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. The french toast is thick and amazing. Then we went into Salt Lake and checked out the Library. It was a pretty amazing building, with an open area, and then just stacks and stacks of books. It had a university library feel, more than a regular library feel. Then we went over to temple square, and saw one of my sister's friends outside the temple having wedding pictures taken, which is just funny. We watched the new Joseph Smith movie, which was really cool. I hadn't seen it. Then we walked around temple square, and saw the tabernacle which has been updated to survive an earthquake. It looks the same on the inside, but the roof is now a bright silver. Again, it was a gorgeous day. Saturday started out looking rainy, but it cleared right up and was beautiful. Not too hot with a breeze. Then we went to the Gateway, which is a shopping place with the Olympic park. Kids run in and out of the water in the fountain. I discovered that in Utah the store Down East Basic is actually a store, and not an online thing only. So now I will be putting in orders with my sister :) We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and tried the whole set of appetizers. Lesson learned: The corn cakes and guac egg rolls are still the best. We also tried the pineapple upside down cheesecake. It was not as good as we had heard. At least we got the tuxedo cheesecake, because that was fabulous. I love cheesecake. Then we went to see an outdoor performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We had a sleeping bag to sit on, but the hill was very steep, so we were sliding down the hill. The venue was nice, and the weather was gorgeous, but the performance itself was more like a roadshow than a broadway production. The primary kids were super cute, and the green go-go boots were definately the hit of the costuming. It was just funny, and I enjoyed it.

Sunday we went to church, and my favorite part was my sister running to another apartment to borrow the perfect shoes for her outfit. It is like having 10 times as many clothes when you have friends that live so close. I also benefited from this because I borrowed a jacket from my sister. There was a munch and mingle after church. This is different than the "break the fast" my ward has. It is on the third sunday and the ward provides the food, it isn't a pot luck. This time it was baked potatoes. Yum. We sat and visited and it was alot of fun to meet people and get names associated with faces. Then we took a Sunday afternoon nap (or I did), and then we went for a drive through the canyon, singing fabulous songs all the way. It was a beautiful drive up through Sundance. Once again, can't say enough about how gorgeous the weather was. It did get a bit cold up in the mountains. My sister was lamenting the fact that it was fall already, but I really enjoyed the break from the humid 100 degree days. Then we cooked some pizza and went to Ward Prayer. This is amazing to me. The entire apartment complex is one singles ward, and because they are all in the same complex, they get together in the courtyard and have ward prayer Sunday night. It is a social thing, with a short spiritual thought and games. Then the party came to my sister's place where we continued to play games. Provo is definately a social place.

Monday we got up and got a pie shake for elevensies. Yes, this is taking a piece of pie, putting it into a glass with ice cream, and blending it together. Amazing! Then we went to Thanksgiving Point, which has gardens and a dinosaur museum. We watched a glass blower create a vase of some kind. Then we walked around the gardens. They were amazingly beautiful, especially with the mountains as a backdrop. It was just fun to wander around. Then we drove by several temples, so in all I saw 5 temples on this trip. Then we got a slurpee and a "Beyond Glaze" donut, which is a glazed donut but decorated with other flavors, like Key Lime. Then it was time to drop me off at the airport. Sad.

Bottom Line: Provo is a very exciting place to meet people and do tons of fun things and eat lots of yummy food.